The Truth About Cindy's Testimony

The media on Thursday labeled Cindy Anthony’s testimony as a bombshell, and many have commented that Casey’s mother and the defense conspired to torpedo key evidence in an attempt to plant reasonable doubt. Cindy testified that she was the one who Googled chloroform in March of 2008, but was that a lie, as so many have suggested? Who knows for certain? But Thursday’s testimony should not have come as a surprise to prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick, though she acted as if it did. The following are excerpts from a deposition Cindy gave on July 28, 2009, with Drane Burdick asking the questions:

Q: All right. There is a search for how to make chloroform on your desktop computer. Did you make that search?A: I'm not sure.Q: Why not?A: Because I remember looking up chlorophyll back in March of last year, and I'm not sure if I looked up chloroform as well. I looked up alcohol and several other things like that – like ethyl alcohol and peroxide, too.Q: Why?A: I was researching things that – as far as chlorophyll –Q: Uh-huh.A: – and possibly chloroform because of my animals because of my cocker—or my Yorkies would eat a lot of bamboo leaves and I knew there's chlorophyll in those leaves and they were getting sick, quite sick.And I had previously lost two Cocker Spaniels, and I wanted to see if there was any tie. I had never thought about that with the cancer and stuff that I lost the Cocker, so I started researching different things.As far as alcohol and peroxide, I researched just—I was looking through different things that was in our cabinets that Caylee would get into because we didn't keep, like, you know, cleaning supplies in the bathrooms. The only thing I kept in the bottom bathrooms that we had locked was alcohol and peroxide.And I knew alcohol could be costly, but I wasn't sure about the peroxide because I know you can gargle with it, and I know you can drink some peroxide, but I wanted to see how much could hurt, in case she ever got into anything.Q: Okay. Did you look up shovel –A: No.Q: – for any reason?A: No.Q: Neck breaking?A: NoQ: Did you – do you believe that you could have accidentally looked up how to make chloroform?A: I may have looked up the ingredients of chloroform. I may have looked up the ingredients, but not how to make it.Q: Okay. [Pause] What did you learn about chlorophyll?A: It can make an animal sick, but it wasn't – it didn't have, like, drowsiness effects and things that I was concerned with. It did not.Okay. What is chlorophyll?A: Chlorophyl is the – the green that's in plants.Q: Okay. In all plants?A: Uh-huh. You can see the green. Uh-huh.Q: All right.A: And being a Latin student and knowing Latin, chloro, I wanted to see if there was any ties, if you had – if you could overdose on chlorophyll or if it would become like chloroform. But there was no tie to that.Q: All right. How do you spell chlorophyll?A: C-h-l-o-r-i-p-h-i-l, [sic], I believe.Q: I'm sorry. I missed that. C-h-l-o –A: C-h – yeah – l-o-r-o-p-h-i-l.Q: Okay. So you believe you may have searched the components –A: Of chlor0phyll.Q: – of chloroform?A: I may have.Q: But would not have entered in a search how to make –A: No.Q: – chloroform?A: No.Q: Okay.A: Not unless the ingredients were mimicking the chlorophyll. And I did not see that.Q: [Pause] When did you learn that law enforcement had identified the Google searches on how to make chloroform and then the component parts of chloroform?A: I learned indirectly. Yuri Melich and Sergeant Allen and Nick Savage came to my house the week that Casey was home the first time, the first week.Q: Uh-huh. End of August.A: They came – I believe it was on a Tuesday because I think she had until Thursday originally to make a plea deal and then that following Monday. So it was around that time frame they came to my house. And naturally I couldn't let them in the house because Casey was there. So I came outside.And Yuri Melich was asking me questions in my front yard about talking to Casey and it came out: Did you know that there was a search on your computer. And –Q: For?A: For how to make chloroform. And I said: No.

* * *

So, if Cindy told investigators in August 2008 that she wasn’t aware that chloroform had been searched on the home computer, why did she tell Drane Burdick a year later that she was the one who Googled that word? Whether she told the truth in 2009 and on the stand Thursday could be as hard to prove as it is to disprove. But Cindy’s declaration was not a bombshell, and Drane Burdick should have seen it coming.

There comes a time when there is just one circumstantial coincidence too many.....

Jun 24, 2011 12:01 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

I have to disagree with you that you don't think Cindy lied on the stand. She most certainly did. For one thing, she is a nurse and she should know how to spell chlorophyll the right way. Secondly if you look up chlorophyll it does not take you to chloroform like she stated. She also said that she didn't look up neck breaking, but a video popped up on it's own of a skater that had to do with neck breaking. I don't think so! She said that she didn't know what the computer searched for or did when she wasn't using it. Most computers don't do anything unless you are telling them to and they will go into sleep mode if not used within a certain amount of time. As far as her time card goes, she also lied about that. It is illegal to fudge your time card like that and I am sure that the company she worked for is not very happy with her right now. I am sure the prosecutors have already gotten a subpeona for her time cards, her emails information and computer use during that time at work. They will be able to impeach her and I hope when this trial is done that she is the next one that they prosecute for perjury. It is one thing to beg for your daughter's life in the penalty phase, but to perjure yourself is another. I am sure that part of the reason that this may have come as a surprise to Linda Drane Burdick is because before court started she was talking with Cindy in the court room and everything was fine then. During the break before Cindy got on the stand she was in the hallway with her attorney and Baez. George was in the court room. I am sure that is when she decided to do her lying.I think the public has a right to be upset with Cindy after this latest testimony. Many of us were starting to feel some sympathy or changed what we thought about her when she was on the stand earlier and was starting to tell the truth, but after yesterday that has all changed. I hope at the end that she thinks it is worth it.

Jun 24, 2011 12:11 pm

Posted by
Carol-WI

Dave: Did it seem that the jury was taking extra notes on this testamony? Will they be able to read any of the transcrips from depositions? It would seem to me, if I was on the jury that a mother would lie for her daughter. I just don't get this family. The daughter kills the granddaughter, labels the husband/father and son as molesters, and then Cindy lies for her. I don't get it. It's been reported Cindy takes notes that she can review before called to the stand again. Can the procecution ask for the notes? Cindy was talking to Jose in the hall. The notes may give an indication of answers Jose wants Cindy to give.Carol-WI

Jun 24, 2011 01:11 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

To Anonymous@1:01

You may want to hit the "pause" button in your judgment on Cindy.

There's no way they are going to prosecute Cindy Anthony for perjury. They are wise enough to know this does happen in trials, especially when it comes to a mother's instinct of protecting their child (especially when the penalty is death). They will not pursue Cindy for this.

It is immoral to lie. But if you were to take a poll on mothers throughout America -- on if they would lie in a court of law (and place themselves in jeopardy) to save their child from death -- I am sure that a significant percentage of mothers WOULD indicate they may do so. The reason for this is that this matter of the heart (love for their child) may outweigh the matter of law for many mothers placed in this type of circumstance.

Yes, it is wrong to lie in court. We all realize that. But agree with it or not, some mothers would argue that not intervening to protect their child from death would be immoral -- even in a court of law. A majority of mothers are likely to have unconditional love for their child, and this may translate in a way that their hearts would overrule the court rules in saving their child.

If you put yourself in Cindy's shoes and are so sure that you would not respond similarly, there should be no judgment on you that you do not love your child...but it might serve you well to have some compassion for another mother who would choose differently.

Jun 24, 2011 02:30 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

Anon @ 2:11 PM, if she wants to beg for her daughter's life to be saved then she should do it in the penalty phase and not commit perjury during the guilt phase. I have no sympathy for Cindy because of the way that she has lied and behaved. I know I can say that I am not alone in that. If I was in her shoes, I would still love her, but I can honestly say that I would never lie for her. It is apparent that Cindy is not thinking at all about Caylee during any of this because if she did, she would be behaving differently. I think we can agree to disagree on how we view this. JMO

Jun 24, 2011 03:51 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

Anon. At 3:30...Yes, we can agree to disagree. I would not handle things as Cindy has in a variety of ways -- believe me -- but I do think we should find some compassion in our hearts for her. This is not the same as saying she has not made mistakes and there are not things to point to in her behavior that we do not agree with -- but it is very easy to judge when we are not in the situation or also do not have all the information. I think it is unfair to judge her so harshly.

We all have to find a peace on the decisions we make in life. For all the mistakes you feel Cindy has made and the disagreement you have on how she has conducted herself, the totality of the pain she has in all she faces (death of her precious grandaughter/daughter facing the death penalty/accusations against her husband and son/media and public condemnation etc. that will go on --and are the reality of herlife from now on)...she just most certainly does not deserve all that.

There are courageous things that she has done, and I think we need to remember that as well. All of our lives have a balance of our best and worst decisions -- our most courageous, honorable moments and our worst and weakest moments.

If Cindy lied on the stand to protect her daughter, I think that needs to be weighed in a more compassionate way than you have done...and even if there are many people you who feel as you do in hardening their hearts completely to Cindy, it doesn't make it right. Justice should and must be done, but that does not mean that as human beings we can't grant a few tender mercies.

I think we all can agree that Casey Anthony did not appear to put herself in the shoes of her dear daughter and lacked empathy for her.

If this sad story does nothing else, I would hope it brings about the desire for all of us to have more empathy and compassion for another's situation...to try to make the world a little bit better -- one person at a time. We need not only wisdom for that but also strong hearts.

Jun 24, 2011 03:54 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

reply to reply to anon 1:01

Ironically, I have steadfastly believed and blogged that I think this is a terrible accident by a foolish impulive girl. The point I was making is that sympathy's must be wearing thin by now as no reasonable person could assume that searches could be going back and forth between cindy and casey within 15 second intervals on the internet. I'm assuming that the jury is searching every testimony so that they are not forced to select first degree/death penalty. No jury wants to do that. But how do you get around the facebook, photobucket and myspace searches every 10 or 15 seconds? Clearly the prosecution has established intent. Having said that I do not judge Cindy. I would probably say what I had too also for my daughter.

Jun 24, 2011 05:31 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

To 4:54 Anon...from Anon. 4:51Thanks for your reply. There are so many Anon. posters that it can get confusing! But thank you. I get where you are coming from, and I appreciate your comment.

Jun 24, 2011 06:07 pm

Posted by
NikkiS1000

I'm baffled by these people and their stories. Cindy was at work, but, no, she's home, on Facebook. She didn't know anything about FACEBOOK, when she posted the nasty letter about Casey, in June, or July, 2008, as per her deposition. But, no, don't rely on her 2008 and 2009, or 2010 depositions. She was medicated, and lied. But, no, it wasn't a lie, it was faulty memory.I wonder if Cindy is trying to intimidate George into getting on the stand and testifying that he molested Casey? Wonder if it will work. With these people, who knows? I pray for justice. It seems the Anthonys pray for deliveance from justice.

Jun 24, 2011 06:44 pm

Posted by
Anonymous

As far as I am concerned, this is about a 2 1/2 y.o. little girl who was allegedly murdered by her own mother. It seems that her own family has forgotten about that. They claimed to have loved her, but their actions are saying otherwise. They claim they want to know the truth, but I believe that they know the truth and they are doing everything they can so that the truth of their daughter/sister murdering her own daughter doesn't come true. They want to save their daughter and sister from the death penalty. If that is the case then beg for her life during the penatly phase. Don't get on the stand and lie for her so that their neice and grand daughter doesn't get the justice that she deserves. This jury is going to see through their lies and they may very well take that against Casey. They have a better chance of her getting LWOP if they tell the truth versus lieing. If this was someone else who murdered their neice/grand daughter they would be yelling from the roof tops that they want this person to get the death penalty. I beg them to stop and think about Caylee and give her the justice she deserves instead of lieing for their neice/grand daughter who isn't going to give a tinkers damn about them when this is over. JMO

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About This Blog

'Marinade Dave' Knechel

Dave Knechel has been blogging about the Casey Anthony case since late 2008, drawing readers from all over the world. Best known as “Marinade Dave,” a nickname he got when he made marinades and also blogged about marinade recipes, Knechel is on assignment to blog about the case exclusively for orlandomagazine.com as Anthony goes to trial for first-degree murder. His posts will appear regularly on this site.